Endless Night
by Gadien Elf
Summary: Darkness is closing in on the elves of Arda. Legolas and Aragorn must rally the realms together if they wish to defeat their enemy. Itty-bitty crossover with Magic: The Gathering. Leg/OC, Ara/Arwen: T to M rating fantasy violence, it'll vary.
1. Author's Note

Bear with my long authors note, but I feel like explaining myself before this fic – it may help those that are on the fence with reading it choose to read or walk away.

AN:

Slightly AU (in terms of character backgrounds), and pre War of the Ring. I have not had a chance to finish the books so this is based off of movie verse (I know, how can I have a pre War of the Ring fanfic based off the movies concerning the War of the Ring?). I'm half way through Fellowship, but haven't read anything for a few months.

Tolkien Fan Warning: If you're a hardcore Tolkien fan that delights in pointing out where I'm wrong, please refrain from reading. If you're a hardcore Tolkien fan that just enjoys reading fics about your favorite Middle Earth characters, then by all means, drop on in and take a gander!

This will feature my elf Sowen (from To Each Their Own). Obviously I'm not connecting these two fics in any way, I just can't see any other she-elf with Legolas other than Sowen (bias you know). So, they're together in this fic as well (hence the AU warning in the beginning).

I'm borrowing some story lines and characters from the collectible card game Magic: The Gathering© (MtG). Seeing as playing the game, two of the cards especially, gave me the idea for this fic, I'll go ahead and call this a crossover, though it's more like 90% Lord of the Rings and 10% MtG.

The only Magic creature I'm borrowing is Nicol Bolas, but I'm not really going to try to intersect the MtG storyline in with the Lord of the Rings storyline – I'm merely borrowing situations as illustrated by the cards and altering the background of Nicol Bolas a bit. You can Wiki that character though and read his history. He truly is a fascinating creature!

The two MtG cards I'm referring to can be found at the Wizards of the Coast site - specifically in the section called the Gatherer. In the search bar just type in Nicol Bolas, and then Slave of Bolas.

The artwork for Slave of Bolas REALLY inspired me and eventually spawned the idea for this storyline. It, and more work by Steve Argyle, this talented fantasy artist, can be found on his DeviantArt page. You can type in his name, or you can type in Slave of Bolas, and his artwork will pop up.

In any case, enough with my ramblings. For those that don't play Magic, or for those that do that don't know the elaborate backgrounds of any of the creatures or effects, I'll elaborate, no worries.

On to chapter 1!

-Jean


	2. Chapter 1: Return

A/N: This takes place in the Third Age – 100 years before the events of the War of the Ring. I am using wiki, and the Encyclopedia of Arda to try and get as close as I can to the books and the actual facts surrounding the events before the War of the Ring. Aragorn is around 39 years of age, and Legolas (from best records I could find) is a little over 2,800 years old.

Chapter 1: Making an Entrance

The silvery moon hung low in the sky, the crescent shape casting only a fraction of the light over the rolling hills and vast plains of grass. Large broad wings blotted out the moonlight as the massive dragon inhaled deeply, the sound almost gurgling in his throat.

"This land is changing..." the deep, gravely voice boomed, the beast landing on a large stone and looking out over the vast lands of Arda. "I shall enjoy my time spent here, it's been long since I've sailed over Arda."

Continuing his journey from the Empty Lands, if he soared high enough he could see the waters of the Sea of Rhun to the north and the Ash Mountains to the south. A deep evil was growing there, he could feel it, his powers of flame, control, and death growing more as he inched closer to the Black Land.

Yet his journey was not to the realm of Mordor. Nor was is to the Dead Marshes or other swamp-land from which he could draw power.

_'What more power is there to claim?' _he'd asked himself as he stood over the bodies of the remaining Elder Dragons, their death's removing any usurpers that would question the power he'd been given. _'Men have power, but not in this age. What use would I have for hobbit slaves?'_

_'Elves...' _his pondering brought a sinister upturn of his lips, the jagged, sharp teeth shining in the light. _'The elves hold the powers of air, water, and fire...power I must have lest they rise up against me. Dwarves have their power of gold and shining things – those are of no use to me. I smell the fear in the men – their hearts being twisted by this strange lord of the Black Lands – it is the elves I must break.'_

His thoughts were brought back to the present as he spied several human encampments below him. Dropping from the sky he landed a mere quarter-mile north of the men. _'What are they called – the masters of the Mumakil...' _he struggled, attempting to identify the beasts in the distance, which he hadn't seen in over three thousand years.

_'Haradrim...they may be of use to me.'_

Though sleek, skilled, quick and beautiful in the sky, dragons were awkward on the ground. This Elder Dragon, despite his age, wisdom, and magic powers was no more graceful as those that came after him – those he had either killed or stripped of their dragon status. Clumsily he made his way over and settled his clawed hand into a near-by stream. Closing his eyes and murmuring, an eerie blue glow rested in his palms.

Leaving the stream, the veins in his arms glowing blue, he made his way to the Haradrim's encampment.

Cries of alarm from the watch ceased with the dragon's growl, his hands thrusting out as a wave of blue light stretched across the men and their beasts.

The men of the camp stopped, their hands dropping slightly though they kept their weapons drawn. Looking between themselves they couldn't quite understand what had alarmed them so about the unassuming man in black standing before them.

His eyes cast a yellow glow as his voice boomed through the crowd.

"Tell me Haradrim, who is your leader. I wish to form an alliance with him."

The flap of a distant tent opened as a tattooed, tall man stepped into the firelight. He held the same blue shine in his eyes as the others.

"I am Kahkhast, to whom do you serve?" Wary of this stranger, Kahkhast approached slowly with his hand on the hilt of his short sword.

Clouds made their way across the moon, the shadows creating an eerie blackness behind the stranger at the entrance. Had the Haradrim not been under the dragon's spell they would have seen that the shadow cast by the yellow-eyed man was not that of a human, but a much larger form with drawn wings.

"I serve myself, and have a proposition for you. Come closer so we may speak without the eavesdropping ears of your men."

There was a hunger in his voice that he couldn't mask, and though the Haradrim hadn't picked up on it, he knew it would be hard to keep them under his spell for much longer. Oh how he longed for his pools of meditation - drawing power from the fire within, the water around, and the swamps below.

"Drop your weapons, and then we will talk."

With barely concealed hate he opened his wings to their maximum, the humans only seeing it as the man spreading open his jacket. Seeing nothing shining, no hidden knife of any kind, Kahkhast took a few more small steps toward the concealed dragon.

Looking down at the small creature, the dragon almost wanted to laugh, lunge down, and swallow him whole. Alas, his hunger would have to wait; as if the minuscule morsel would fill him even a tiny bit.

Gurgling into his chest and summoning the fire from his belly, his hands, veins still glowing blue, sparked red as he tossed the enchantment at the hapless human.

Glittering tokens emerged in a halo, hovering about the mans head - sparkling with lighting-like energy. His eyes glazed over as a purple glow filled them, Kahkhast's hands going limp at his sides as his short sword fell into the swaying grass.

From that moment on, the Haradrim's eyes were opened and the magnificent dragon stood before them - towering over even the Mumakil.

"Tell your men not to be afraid - for they are in the presence of their lord and master."

Kahkhast turned, looking but only vaguely seeing his men as the shook in their deer-skin boots. "Be not afraid - our Dark Lord has returned to lead us to victory over our enemies."

His voice was hollow, his mind stripped and void.

"I am no Dark Lord!" Spitting fire into the air, lighting the entire camp and illuminating his lithe, scaled form, he raised his head to the sky. "Let the reign of Nicol Bolas being upon the lands of Arda! All those who stand against me will fall into ruin."

***

Okay - so no Lord of the Rings characters in that chapter. Not to worry, they're coming. I felt the need to introduce the bad guy first - which usually isn't my style (nor do I read a lot of fics that start with the bad guy). Either way - there he is.

Background Info: Drawing power from the land is the blood of Magic the Gathering. There are five lands - Islands (blue - water), Forests (green - trees and plants), Plains (white - plains and grasslands), Swamps (black - self explanatory, evil and darkness), and Mountains (red - fire). Nicol Bolas is a Grixis creature - which excels in the magic of Red, Blue, and Black.

Blue is typically control - mind control (like the card Slave of Bolas), enchantments that disorient, anything to really screw up your opponent. Black is typically death - anything dead really - vampires, zombies, etc - mostly evil things, dragons and demons – also enchantments that cause your opponent to lose life when doing an action (drawing a card, discarding a card, or in this fic, obviously something else). Red is fire - plain and simple - direct damage to an opponent without being all that sneaky.

Mix those things together, put it all in the body of a 15,000 year old Mythic Legendary Elder Dragon - and you get Nicol Bolas. *shudder*

Anywho - there's a little bit of background into the magic abilities from, well, Magic. :) Let's get into come LotR!

-Jean


End file.
